Clothes-drying rack



May 3, 1949. J. G. ROTHROCK CLOTHES DRYING RACK 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 25, 1945 H 0 N N/ P. 5 m if a 6M 1W3 UL I 7 ,v

y 1 J. G. ROTHROCK 2,469,208

CLOTHES DRYING RACK Filed Oct. 25, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E ma /v70? ufames 6 fial/Irack flTTOR/VEY Patented May 3, 1949 Application- October25, 1945, Serial No. 524,393

' 2 o1 s (C1.215 109)! This; invenfiipn, g ielatesto clothes drying rack comprising a. cabinet of neat door a mntal; a earanc ada t d o be h on a wall and. v that jwillv occupy little space when not in use; said cabinet carrying a relatively large mbers?" l t e r n b s tha w hi in the cabinetwhen not in use and that may lose):-

n ed h ie ie ly w l ievide e e i e a total, b rlen th .fQ ihelh n ms; q c he to b I dried.

Another object is to provide a clothes drying rack havingnovel and efiicient means for supporting ,apluralitv of clothesb'ars' in aneXtended or s'ushtantial'ly':horizontal position, said means permitting the bars t'o be' Quickly andeasily moved frond a folded to"an eitended position or vice versa.""

Other objects are to provide a clothes drying rack of strong; simple; 'efii'cient and compact con-- struction that is not expensive to manufacture,

tendedipo'siti'on or vice ve'rsa,

Another object is to p'rovide a clothes drying raclgof 'a'design .thatfis equallyiwe'll adapted to either wood or'metal construction and one that can he 'readily 'constr ucted in different sizes to p videfgfb l e t 9 1. s me bar l h;

he d w 'ss. Figure' 'l isa' front elevation of a Wooden clothes drying racl; iconstruct'ed' in accordance with my invention, theclothe'sfbars being omitted.

Fig! 2 s a p es v wjq ihes i s n a l rality of clothes'baris infan extended or clothes receiving position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on broken m '3 of Fig. j 1 showing, hy full lines, a fragment of a clothesbarin an -extended or horizontal position and showing, by dot and dash lines, a clothes bar in a'folded or upright position.

Fig. 4 is a detached perspective view, with parts broken away, of a clothes bar used in connection with my invention.

Fig. 5 is a View in front elevationof a sheet metal clothes rack constructed in accordance with this invention, the clothesloar's being omitted.

Fig. dis a vertical sectional view, taken substantially on line 6-06 of Fig.5, of a metal clothes drying rack constructed in accordance with'this invention,1showing by ful 1 lines a" fragment of a clothes bar in an extended position and by dot and dash lines a clothes barin'a folded position, I

. I thesdryln ra k d-e iqbiect o th in en qn i t P Y B 5% 2 "I ula sl west li u Figs.5and 6.,

s, a i' s sl yet ei e en inw 5 s-5.1 l fi fi Q brolren lin es d.

Fig.9 Like r eteese r m; reesheut s te e -v. dik h iifi t ers r k-FM clothes rack comprises a dab wall l2, a front ""1 3' wall 5. j'Ihils cabin or backs, is pretest 1 fen -teen '1';

oi-truncateclateo 'rheifroiifiwaliflsi strip 18' ithatextndsj a re v and cooperates withftlielffo t fulcrum niernh they are ex 11 d p'o v LIZ iitendse l bqvemt e vfront wall I 'if'i e te e-ri Allfparts of the .cabinet are secured together 4 by nails cir'scrws"oi'*g1ili"o bin ation oi nails, so 45 t ie l E meet "to prov' i' l h a usedto hang'clothesoff theyniay I32 draw-n 11 3: wardly and outwardly from the receptacle I6 50 and the narrower neck portion 24 near the inner end of each bar I! engaged within one of the notches 23. This will support each bar I! in a substantially horizontal position as shown by full lines in Fig. 3.

The neck'portions 24 of the bars I! are narrower than the notches 23 and longer than the thickness of the piece 22. This makes it possible to position the bars l! at an angle other than perpendicular to the cross piece 22. Thus the bars I! can be spread out in fan shape, as shown in Fig. 2. Also these bars H can be entirely removed from the cabinet.

The cabinet is of symmetrical design and may, if desired, be artistically decorated to further improve its appearance. Preferably molding strips 27 are provided onthe front of this cabinet adjacent the two sides and bottom thereof.

Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 show a clothes dryingrack of this type which is varied in design to adapt it to be constructed out of sheet metal, such as aluminum. The cabinet of this rack comprises a back wall 33, a front wall 3!, side walls 32 and a bottom wall 33. The top edge of the front wall 3| has an outwardly curved lip 34 to provide transverse strength and serve as a. fulcrum for bars 35 on which clothes may be hung.

The side walls 32 and bottom wall 33 are preferably formed by bending over portions of the edges of one of the other walls such as the front wall. This cabinet may be assembled by spot welding or riveting tabs 33 of the side walls 32 and bottom 33 to the back wall 33. The means with which the inner end portions of the bars 35 may be detachably engaged is a piece of sheet metal bent to channel shaped cross section. The front flange 31 of this channel shaped cross bar 31 has notches 38 extending from its bottom edge upwardly. The rear flange 39 of said cross bar is welded or otherwise fixedly secured to the rear wall 32. v

Preferably the bars 35 are of tubular cross section and each bar has its opposite side portions flattened near its inner end to provide a narrower neck portion 43 adapted to fit within one of the notches 38 and a head portion 4| which can not be pulled through a notch 38.

The. clothes rackshown in Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 functions in substantially the same manner as the clothes rack shoWnin Figs. 1 to 4.

Figs. 9, 10 and 11 show a clothes rack of modified form adapted for the use of bars I! of the form shown in Figs, 2, 3 and 4 or bars 35 of the form shown in Figs. 6 and 8. The clothes rack shown in Figs. 9, 10 and 11 comprises a bar holding member 42 of any desired length having a centrally positioned downwardly extending receptacle 43 for receiving and holding the clothes bars when they are not in use.

The bar holding member 42 may be formed of r a single piece of sheet metal bent to provide fulcrum member 44 on which the bars may rest and having a hook shaped portion 45 provided with notches 46 in which the neck portions. of the bars engage. The receptacle 43 is preferably fixedly secured to the bar holding member 42. The bar holding member may be of relatively great length to hold a large number of bars,

In the use of the device shown in Figs. 9, 10 and 11 the bars that are to be supported in notches 46 to either side of the receptacle 43 can be entirely removed from'the holder in moving them between an extended and a folded position or they can be elevated into a substantially vertical position and slidably moved along the bar holding member 43.

The foregoing description and accompanying drawings clearly disclose preferred embodiments of this invention but it will be understood that changes in the invention may be made within the scope and spirit of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a clothes drying rack, a relatively deep receptacle of narrow thickness from front to rear and having substantially parallel front and rear walls and having a bottom wall; a horizontal fulcrum member carried by the upper edge portion of the front wall of said receptacle; horizontal clothes bar holding means carried by the rear wall of said receptacle and extending toward said fulcrum member above the level of said fulcrum member and havingdownwardly opening clothes bar positioning notches; and clothes bars each having a neck portion of narrower Width than the bar near the inner end of the bar and a terminal head portion Wider than said neck portion inwardly of said neck portion, whereby when said neck portions are positioned in said notches said bars will be held against endwise movement and will be supported in extended positions by said clothes bar holding means and said fulcrum memher, said bars being readily movable into upright positions with the inner end portions of the bars resting on the bottom wall of the cabinet'and the major portions of the bars disposed within the cabinet and the outer end portions of the bars extending above the clothes bar holding means.

2. In a clothes drying rack, a relatively deep clothes bar receptacle of narrow thickness having a front wall and a rear wall adapted to be positioned against a wall; clothes bars adapted to be disposed in said receptacle, each clothes bar having a neck portion of narrower width than the bar near its inner end and having a terminal head portion wider than said neck; a horizontal clothes bar fulcrum member carried by the upper edge of the front wall ofsaid receptacle; a clothes bar holding member of substantially inverted hook shape in cross section supported from the rear wall of said receptacle, said clothes bar holding member having a flat outer portion spaced between said rear wall and said fulcrum member, the bottom edge of said fiat outer portion being approximately flush with the top edge of said fulcrum member; and notches of narrower width than said clothes bars in the fiat outer portion of said clothes bar holding member extending from the bottom edge thereof upwardly adapted to releasably receive the narrower neck portions of said bars.

JAMES GILBERT ROTHROCK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 109,648 Myers Nov. 29, 1870 121,953 Miller Dec. 19, 1871 197,979 Ruckwardt Dec. 11, 1877 528.498 Anderson Oct. 30, 1894 2,126,513 Sterrett Aug. 9, 1938 

